Sam I Am/House

[Petro]

I think Doc will come to a cross road here. As this series goes along the Pistons will pick up the ball pressure especially when Hunter is in the game he one of the best at pressuring the ball and in a close game it can make a difference.Now Doc has been going with House again(great move)i'm just worried that House wont be able to deal with Hunter's pressure when Rondo is not in the game.Cassell is the better ball handler but House is giving us better overall production and energy.It will be intresting to see if Doc sticks with House all the way.

[BballTim]

I think Doc will come to a cross road here. As this series goes along the Pistons will pick up the ball pressure especially when Hunter is in the game he one of the best at pressuring the ball and in a close game it can make a difference.Now Doc has been going with House again(great move)i'm just worried that House wont be able to deal with Hunter's pressure when Rondo is not in the game.Cassell is the better ball handler but House is giving us better overall production and energy.It will be intresting to see if Doc sticks with House all the way.

  What's more important than whether to play Sam or Eddie is keeping their combined pg minutes below 10 a game.

[TheRev72]

I wouldn't be surprised if Doc plays House at home but has Cassell at the back up point on the road.  I just can't see Cassell being rattled by ball pressure the way House is, and the refs will allow the Pistons to be even more aggressive in Detroit.  Now if Doc can just convice Cassell to give up the ball...

[BudweiserCeltic]

I think Doc will come to a cross road here. As this series goes along the Pistons will pick up the ball pressure especially when Hunter is in the game he one of the best at pressuring the ball and in a close game it can make a difference.Now Doc has been going with House again(great move)i'm just worried that House wont be able to deal with Hunter's pressure when Rondo is not in the game.Cassell is the better ball handler but House is giving us better overall production and energy.It will be intresting to see if Doc sticks with House all the way.

  What's more important than whether to play Sam or Eddie is keeping their combined pg minutes below 10 a game.

Let's hope that Rondo plays like he did last night to warrant that much playing time.

[Larry Legend]

What about playing Cassell and House for small stretches at the same time.  Cassell at the 2 guard, but bringing the ball up when there is pressure.

[Roy Hobbs]

If Eddie can't bring the ball up, use Pierce or whoever else as the primary ball handler.  I think Eddie is too important to bench.

[D Dub]

Agreed.  I like the adjustment of Pierce bringing it up when House is being harrassed by Hunter.  A little unorthodox, but certainly justified for this series.  

Sam has shown me nothing to warrant any playing time thus far, House is outplaying him in every facet of the game.

[Atzar]

If Eddie can't bring the ball up, use Pierce or whoever else as the primary ball handler.  I think Eddie is too important to bench.

Exactly.  Eddie got trapped once last night when he came in, so Pierce started bringing the ball up.  That kind of shot Detroit's strategy, so it looked like they stopped doing that.

For once, give credit to Doc for recognizing that problem and fixing it quickly.  Or maybe Pierce just did it himself... haha.  Either way, I thought it was very promising that they didn't let that get to them like it did during the regular season.

[crownsy]

I think Doc will come to a cross road here. As this series goes along the Pistons will pick up the ball pressure especially when Hunter is in the game he one of the best at pressuring the ball and in a close game it can make a difference.Now Doc has been going with House again(great move)i'm just worried that House wont be able to deal with Hunter's pressure when Rondo is not in the game.Cassell is the better ball handler but House is giving us better overall production and energy.It will be intresting to see if Doc sticks with House all the way.

  What's more important than whether to play Sam or Eddie is keeping their combined pg minutes below 10 a game.

Let's hope that Rondo plays like he did last night to warrant that much playing time.

lets hope so, in my mind thats key 1B to us winning a championship, right behind 1A) get rays jumpshot going

[Redz]

If Eddie can't bring the ball up, use Pierce or whoever else as the primary ball handler.  I think Eddie is too important to bench.

Exactly.  Eddie got trapped once last night when he came in, so Pierce started bringing the ball up.  That kind of shot Detroit's strategy, so it looked like they stopped doing that.

For once, give credit to Doc for recognizing that problem and fixing it quickly.  Or maybe Pierce just did it himself... haha.  Either way, I thought it was very promising that they didn't let that get to them like it did during the regular season.

Was there any reason for Detroit not to put pressure on Pierce when he was bringing the ball up? It was like they were completely dumbfounded when their prey (House) was no longer a target.   

[BudweiserCeltic]

If Eddie can't bring the ball up, use Pierce or whoever else as the primary ball handler.  I think Eddie is too important to bench.

Exactly.  Eddie got trapped once last night when he came in, so Pierce started bringing the ball up.  That kind of shot Detroit's strategy, so it looked like they stopped doing that.

For once, give credit to Doc for recognizing that problem and fixing it quickly.  Or maybe Pierce just did it himself... haha.  Either way, I thought it was very promising that they didn't let that get to them like it did during the regular season.

Was there any reason for Detroit not to put pressure on Pierce when he was bringing the ball up? It was like they were completely dumbfounded when their prey (House) was no longer a target.   

They did pressure him, but it bit them in the ass like two times in a row. That instilled the fear to keep at it, even if they should've.

[BballTim]

I think Doc will come to a cross road here. As this series goes along the Pistons will pick up the ball pressure especially when Hunter is in the game he one of the best at pressuring the ball and in a close game it can make a difference.Now Doc has been going with House again(great move)i'm just worried that House wont be able to deal with Hunter's pressure when Rondo is not in the game.Cassell is the better ball handler but House is giving us better overall production and energy.It will be intresting to see if Doc sticks with House all the way.

  What's more important than whether to play Sam or Eddie is keeping their combined pg minutes below 10 a game.

Let's hope that Rondo plays like he did last night to warrant that much playing time.

  He's only had 1-2 games this postseason where he didn't warrant that much time. Whether he got the tie is another story.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I think Doc will come to a cross road here. As this series goes along the Pistons will pick up the ball pressure especially when Hunter is in the game he one of the best at pressuring the ball and in a close game it can make a difference.Now Doc has been going with House again(great move)i'm just worried that House wont be able to deal with Hunter's pressure when Rondo is not in the game.Cassell is the better ball handler but House is giving us better overall production and energy.It will be intresting to see if Doc sticks with House all the way.

  What's more important than whether to play Sam or Eddie is keeping their combined pg minutes below 10 a game.

Let's hope that Rondo plays like he did last night to warrant that much playing time.

  He's only had 1-2 games this postseason where he didn't warrant that much time. Whether he got the tie is another story.

I disagree, as I've mentioned before, he has only had about 6 (7 games now) games were he actually played good basketball for us.  In the rest, his been for the most part our worst enemy with the amount of responsibility he has in our offense. It's not about him shooting well, etc.  It's about how he has run our offense and shot selection (which ties-in with running our offense).

I would agree with you, only if you consider the games in which Cassell played big minutes and was bad... but I'd counter with the person that should've gotten minutes in those games instead would've been House instead of Rondo (who might have been playing poorly).

Serious question here, do you guys not see the difference in our offense when Rondo is moving the ball or not? Have you guys not noticed the huge amount of times when he has killed our offense completely? And it all started with game 3 in Atlanta, especially in that critical 3rd quarter... he almost single handedly handed that game to Atlanta with his poor decision making and ill advised shots.

[winsomme]

you can see last night why we went out and got Cassell. when House is in there DET turned up the ball pressure  big time.

during the season, there was major clamoring for a backup PG that could handle the ball better. as with thinking that House's importance was higher on the road in the CLE series, i think Cassell's importance increase in DET in this series.

that said, i am not in favor of making a move unless ballhandling actually becomes a problem (ie we start having really bad turnovers or it starts to affect the rhythm of the offense) because House plays better defense and has an electric shot.

if having Paul or Ray or even KG bring the ball up solves the problem, then i say stay with Eddie.

i also agree that most of the minutes should go to Rondo. the only reason at this point to play him less than 38 MPG is foul trouble.....

[Roy Hobbs]

that said, i am not in favor of making a move unless ballhandling actually becomes a problem (ie we start having really bad turnovers or it starts to affect the rhythm of the offense) because House plays better defense and has an electric shot.

See, we *do* agree on some things.